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  2. Like McCain, Bill Clinton Admits He Doesn't Use Computer, Internet, or Blackberry

Like McCain, Bill Clinton Admits He Doesn't Use Computer, Internet, or Blackberry

By nisbetmc on June 2, 2009.

Back during the 2008 election, John McCain came under much ridicule for admitting that he doesn't use the Internet or a Blackberry. Turns out that Bill Clinton is in the same exclusive category as McCain. From Sunday's profile at the New York Times magazine:

The man who ushered in the Internet age still does not use a computer, much less a BlackBerry, but keeps up with blogs and sites like The Huffington Post through clips printed out by aides.

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2008 Election
Clinton Internet blackberry McCain NY Times magazine

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Man, that is old school. Existence must have a completely different feel to it when one never uses, or never has used, a computer--as if one is frozen in the 1970s.

By Anonymous (not verified) on 02 Jun 2009 #permalink

Reminds me of a "letter to the editor" I read in "Viz":
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When the recent blackout happened, I was on my computer, which shut down. "Never mind," I thought to myself, "I'll just watch some porn on DVD."

In that moment, I had a vision of what the collapse of civilisation is going to be like. It's going to be no picnic, is it?

There is a big difference between the two. Bill Clinton is retired. John McCain is not.

Clinton can spend his time however he wants, and if he doesn't want to spend his limited time on a computer, no big deal. At least he can afford to pay a secretary to do his web research for him. McCain still has to show up in DC for votes on legislation, and some of those bills are on technology issues. His ignorance of computer issues has consequences that Clinton's does not.

By Eric Lund (not verified) on 03 Jun 2009 #permalink

I guess research is beyond your capabilities which is amazingly funny considering your profile blurb at the top of the page about your supposed areas of expertise.

I'm not a fan of McCain's but correct your knowledge of him.

From a 2000 FORBES article:
http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/0529/053_print.html

McCain himself was convinced early on that the Internet had to play a critical role in the campaign. Time and again it allowed him to leverage his money and his organization. "In the Virginia primary," McCain told me, "we needed a lot of petitions signed to get on the ballot. We had the form available to download off the Internet and got 17,000 signatures with very little trouble."
Ultimately, McCain realized he couldn't go the distance, but the message was clear to any political organization with hopes for the future. His Web team had played the Internet like a Stradivari. . . .

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of e-mail. His nightly ritual is to read his e-mail together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits
*****

An article with actual research written in 2000 is much more authoritive than an out-of-context quote done much more recently.

By the way, a TRUE Scientist or Researcher would verify data by contacting the Senator DIRECTLY for information since that option is available.